Horses

From Publishers Weekly
Over the course of 15 years, Arthus-Bertrand (Earth from Above) traveled the world—from Argentina and Iceland to Senegal and the United States—taking photographs of horses proud and humble, purebred and wild. In this visually stunning ode to Equus caballus, he gathers over 200 photos of stocky Scottish Clydesdales, lithe English Thoroughbreds, speedy American Quarterhorses and many other breeds, each reproduced in glossy, vivid color. While standard equine portraiture calls for a horse to be photographed in profile, its clean lines clearly visible against a plain canvas background, Arthus-Bertrand favors portraits that depict the horse in motion—tail flicking, mane flying—and often paired with its owner or trainer. In one particularly arresting series, he captures French saddle horses mid-leap, as if suspended over jumps in an indoor ring. He often retains the canvas background to excellent but slightly ironic effect, as when he pulls back to reveal what’s often cropped out: while one page shows a horse and his owner in sub-Saharan Africa standing on a rug in front of a plain canvas backdrop, for instance, the following page displays them in the larger context, complete with spectators, spotlights, and the rope that’s supporting the canvas strung up between two trees. There’s plenty of informative text about the different breeds, but most people will be too entranced by the gorgeous photographs to notice.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
No one has captured the affinity between people and horses better than Yann Arthus-Bertrand, revealing how closely the horse's destiny is linked to that of mankind and the ways in which man has fashioned horses in accordance with his needs. This majestic volume shows horses as they really are--lively, high-spirited, mettlesome, animated, prancing, supple, and even ethereal. In situ photographs portray the spirit and the soul of two hundred different horse breeds, from racehorse to workhorse to show horse, from Montana and Russia, central Asia and Argentina, Mongolia and Cameroon, and points ordinary and exotic in between. They range from the purebred Arabians, to the Lippizaner, star of the famous Spanish riding school in Vienna, to the American Appaloosa, to the sleek, patrician thoroughbred.

Accompanying text recounts the rich history of our centuriesold relationship with horses, and the role each breed has played on the world stage.


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Arthus-Bertrand is an award-winning landscape photographer, but in this volume-a best seller in his native France-he focuses on horses. His approach is unique, in terms of both set design and organization: each animal is photographed outdoors against a tan canvas background, and the resulting photographs are grouped geographically according to regional origins. The accompanying text reflects the culture of those regions, which range from Cameroon to Russia. There are many full-page spreads, and in some photos the camera moves beyond the canvas background to reveal the local scenery. Nearly 15 years in the making, these arresting photographs do not comprise a comprehensive catalog of horse breeds but instead a work of art. As the photographer notes, "This book is not designed and presented like a well-kept stable It is more like a cavalcade, a headlong gallop, a fantasia of horse." Of interest to horse enthusiasts and students of photography.-Deborah Emerson, Rochester Regional Lib. Council, Fairport, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.


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